Venezuelan official says Trump wants to overthrow government

US President Donald Trump wants to make Venezuela a US “colony”, Venezuela’s attorney general has told the BBC’s NewsHour.

Tarek William Saab said on Sunday that calls for regime change in Venezuela are a front to seize his country’s natural resources, including gold, oil and copper reserves.

Saab, a close friend of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, said there was no doubt the US was trying to overthrow the Venezuelan government and that it was the latest in a long line of “failed” operations.

The US is among a number of nations that do not recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, after the last election in 2024 was widely dismissed as not free or fair.

Trump has also repeatedly floated the possibility of what he calls “land action” in Venezuela, and last week said the US was “now looking at land” after “taking control of the sea”.

At least 43 people have been killed in attacks on alleged drug vessels off the coast of South America, which the Trump administration began authorizing in early September as part of an alleged war on drug traffickers.

US Congress members on both sides of the political aisle have raised concerns about the legality of the strikes and the president’s authority to order them.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters Sunday that future ground attacks were a “real possibility,” and Trump told him he plans to brief members of Congress on future military operations when he returns from Asia.

Asked about the possibility of a ground invasion of Venezuela, Saab told the BBC “it shouldn’t happen, but we are ready”.

He added that Venezuela is “ready to resume dialogue” with the US despite its “illegal” fight against drug trafficking.

Over the past two months, the US has been building up a force of warships, fighter jets, marines, spy planes, bombers and drones in the Caribbean, as part of a crackdown on drug-trafficking and “narco-terrorists”.

Many analysts believe this is also part of a wider intimidation campaign to remove President Maduro from power.

Venezuela’s leader has America is accused of “making war”. After ordering the deployment of the world’s largest warship to the Caribbean, the USS Gerald R. Ford, which has yet to arrive.

On Sunday, the guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely arrived in the twin island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, off the coast of Venezuela, as part of the largest US military deployment to the Caribbean Sea in decades.

Officially visiting until Thursday for joint training and exercises.

The Venezuelan government has since issued a statement condemning what it called “military provocation by Trinidad and Tobago in coordination with the CIA”.

Venezuela claimed it had “captured a mercenary group with direct information from US intelligence agencies”, and alleged that “false flag attacks are underway” in waters between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago.

A false flag operation It is a political or military action aimed at blaming an opponent.

Venezuelan President Maduro has previously been accused of false flag attacks, including a plot to plant explosives at the US embassy in Caracas in early October.

Additional reporting by Ioan Wells